Luke_Wilbur

Excuse my ignorance, but I am not following this thread? What does this have to do with Alberto Gonzales?

A Great Defense Wins Championships I think the Redskins are going to do alot better than what people predict. I really believe that our Secondary and Linebackers are tops in the league. Landry is going to be a big impact from last year's Archuleta mistake. Sean Taylor is a beast. As long as Sean Springs stays healthy he will be a solid corner. This year Carlos Rogers will show why we drafted him in the first round. Fred Smoot will be there to give to back up the secondary. Rocky McIntosh, Marcus Washington, and London Fletcher will make up the best linebacker corp in the NFL this season. The Key will be whether the Redskin Defensive Line can get any pressure. Conelius Griffin and Andre Carter should be solid. Phillip Daniels, Kedric Golston and Anthony Montgomery need to have a good season. Look for some really great nickel packages. If the Redskins get more line surge we just may have a championship season and Vegas bookies will be crying as I cash in my bets at the end of the year.

What about the Cubans????

Worth taking a look at for sure A New York man retired. He wanted to use his retirement money wisely, so it would last, and decided to buy a home and a few acres in Portugal. The modest farmhouse had been vacant for 15 years; the owner and wife both had died, and there were no heirs. The house was sold to pay taxes. There had been several lookers, but the large barn had steel doors, and they had been welded shut. Nobody wanted to go to the extra expense to see what was in the cinder block barn, and it wasn't complimentary to the property anyway... so, nobody made an offer on the place. The NY guy bought it at just over half of the property's worth; moved in, and set about to tear in to the barn. curiosity was killing him. So, he and his wife bought a generator and a couple of grinders... and cut thru the welds. What was in the barn? Check out the image gallery. http://www.intuh.net/barnfinds/afa70.htm

The is worth the read. http://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp798.pdf

Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE) is a diversified financial marketing and service holding company engaged primarily in residential mortgage banking and related businesses. Countrywide is one of the biggest online advertisers in the U.S. Countrywide Financial is composed of: Mortgage Banking, which originates, purchases, securitizes, and services mortgages. In 2006 Countrywide financed over 425 billion dollars, that is approximately 17 to 20% of all mortgages in the Unites States, at a value of about 3½% of United States GDP, a proportion greater than any other single mortgage lender. In order to understand Countrywide's relationship to the current secondary mortgage crisis (which has amounted to about $1 trillion in emergency liquidity from central banks) it is wise to look at past American economic history. Start with the National City Bank (New York City), Morgan Bank, and Chase Manhattan involvement with the Crash of 1929. Shares of Countrywide have lost half their value this year. The company was forced earlier this month to draw down an $11.5 billion credit line after it was unable to get funding by selling mortgages in the secondary markets. On Wednesday, Countrywide received a $2 billion injection from Bank of America Corp. helping the largest U.S. mortgage lender shore up its finances as it struggles with a liquidity crunch. Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, said it bought non-voting preferred stock that yields 7.25 percent and can be converted into Countrywide common stock at $18 per share, 17.5 percent below the shares' Wednesday closing price. Countrywide shares soared 20 percent in after-hours trading. The investment came six days after Countrywide stunned investors by tapping an entire $11.5 billion credit line because it was having difficulty selling short-term debt. The reason? The U.S. housing industry keeps getting sicker. Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday U.S. home prices fell 3.2 percent during the second quarter. The report offered little evidence the struggling housing market is near recovery. Sinking home values are just one of the factors hurting the mortgage industry. People are more likely to default on their home loans when their houses are losing value. Many of the residential mortgage-backed securities issued in late 2005 and much of 2006 now have sufficient seasoning to evidence delinquency, default, and loss trendlines that are indicative of weak future credit performance. The levels of loss continue to exceed historical precedents and our initial expectations. On a macroeconomic level, Countrywide and other mortgage lenders can expect that the U.S. housing market, especially the subprime sector, will continue to decline before it improves, and home prices will continue to come under stress. Weakness in the property markets continues to exacerbate losses, with little prospect for improvement in the near term. Furthermore, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services expect losses will continue to increase, as borrowers experience rising loan payments due to the resetting terms of their adjustable-rate loans and principal amortization that occurs after the interest-only period ends for both adjustable-rate and fixed-rate loans. What makes matters worse is data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) have consistently revealed that certain minorities are more likely to receive high-cost mortgages than other racial or ethnic groups. These data indicate that recent subprime lending practices are likely to have a disproportionate impact on these minorities. For example, a 2006 Federal Reserve study relying on HMDA data from 2005 found that 55 percent of African-Americans and 46 percent of Hispanics received "higher-priced" conventional home purchase loans where higher-priced refers to first-lien mortgages with interest rates that exceeded the equivalent maturity Treasury rate by 3 percentage points. This compared to only 17 percent for non-Hispanic whites. The study indicated that borrower-related factors, such as income, loan amount, and gender, accounted for only one-fifth of this disparity measured relative to non-Hispanic whites. Credit is the economy's life blood. If it becomes too hard to get, spending and investment by people and businesses can stall, short-circuiting economic growth. Fitch Ratings cut its servicer ratings for Countrywide Home Loans Inc on Friday citing troubles in the residential mortgage market. Among Fitch's ratings cuts, Countrywide Home Loans' servicer ratings for Alt-A and subprime products were cut to "RPS1-" from "RPS1," Fitch said. Fitch last week cut parent Countrywide Financial Corp's rating to "BBB-plus," or three levels above junk, from "A," five levels above.

For those out there that think that the "Big Easy" is healed I have news for you. I visited the 9th Ward in New Orleans this month and the recovery looks very bad outside the French Quarter. I am working hard to put up an image gallery of what I saw. Hurricane Katrina Disaster Revisited I still have more photos to post. This may be my largest gallery yet, but I promised residents from the 9th Ward of New Orleans that I would do my best to get the message out. Please feel free to comment on the images and send them to a friend.

I am a big diet soda drinker. My wife is as well. I wonder how bad it is for pregnant women to drink diet soda?

Karl Rove will be a guest on The Rush Limbaugh Show tomorrow at 1:00 pm.

Governor Richardson, If you get elected as President of our great country what position would you take on Executive privilege and do you believe that being in Contempt of Congress trumps Executive privlege? I wrote this same question on a Blog that I set up on Governor Richardson's web site http://action.richardsonforpresident.com/p.../lukewilbur/Bgr

I just received an email from Senator Obama that was linked to the following page: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/dinner I filled out the form and asked the same question. This is the response I received

Here is an interesting poll given by Polling Point on Hillary Clinton by 209.128.109.235 wilson.polimetrix.com

THE PRESIDENT: Karl Rove is moving on down the road. I've been talking to Karl for a while about his desire to spend more time with Darby and Andrew. This is a family that has made enormous sacrifices not only for our beloved state of Texas, but for a country we both love. We've been friends for a long time, and we're still going to be friends. I would call Karl Rove a dear friend. We've known each other as youngsters interested in serving our state. We worked together so we could be in a position to serve this country. And so I thank my friend. I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit. I thank Darby and I thank Karl for making a tremendous sacrifice, and I wish you all the very best. MR. ROVE: Today, I submitted my resignation as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor effective the end of the month. Mr. President, I'm grateful for the opportunity you gave me to serve our nation and you. I'm grateful for being able to work with the extraordinary men and women that you've drawn into this administration. And I'm grateful to have been a witness to history. It has been the joy and the honor of a lifetime. I've seen a man of far-sighted courage put America on a war footing and protect us against a brutal enemy in a dangerous conflict that will shape this new century. I've seen a leader respond to an economy weakened by recession, corporate scandal and terrorist attacks, by taking decisive action to strengthen the economy and create jobs. I've seen a reformer who challenged his administration, the Congress, and the country to make bold changes to important institutions in great need of repair. Mr. President, the world has turned many times since our journey began. We've been at this a long time. It was over 14 years ago that you began your run for governor, and over 10 years ago that we started thinking and planning about a possible run for the presidency. It has been an exhilarating and eventful time. Through it all, you've remained the same man. Your integrity, character and decency have remained unchanged and inspiring. Through all those years, I've asked a lot of my family, and they've given all I've asked and more. And now it seems the right time to start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life. It's not been an easy decision. As you know from our discussions, it started last summer. It always seemed there was a better time to leave somewhere out there in the future. But now is the time. I will miss, deeply miss my work here, my colleagues, and the opportunity to serve you and our nation, Mr. President. But I look forward to continuing our friendship of 34 years, to being your fierce and committed advocate on the outside, and to the next journey we might make together. At month's end, I will join those whom you meet in your travels, the ordinary Americans who tell you they are praying for you. Like them, I will ask for God's continued gifts of strength and wisdom for you and your work, your vital work for our country and the world, and for the Almighty's continued blessing of our great country. Thank you again for this extraordinary opportunity.

I filled out Senator Clinton's Email Form and got the following response:

I got an interesting comment on John Edwards page I just filled out John Edward's form and left him a note.

The District Department of the Environment (DDOE) is offering FREE Radon testing kits to help DC residents maintain safe and healthy homes. According to the EPA and the District Department of the Environment, radon cannot be seen, smelled or tasted, but it may be a problem in your home. Radon is a pollutant that comes from the natural radioactive breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water and can enter the air we breathe. Radon has been found in homes all over the United States, including the District of Columbia. The kit is easy to use--simply place it in your home for two days and then send it to a lab for analysis in the kit's postage-prepaid package. If the results are positive, a list of abatement companies will be provided. The severity of radon contamination will determine how much it will cost to get rid of the problem. Request a free radon test kit

The Eckington Civic Association will meet this Tuesday at 7pm. The location is 22 Q St NE. We will be joined by Leila Batties of Holland and Knight. She will be doing a presentation on the proposed development at Eckington Pl and Harry Thomas Way(Capitol Commerce Center/Fed Ex Field/former Fairfield project). I look forward to see you and please be on time.

That is sad. I visited Lake Titicaca about 10 years ago.

How do you know that these are fraudulent companies?

I just wanted to thank everyone for coming and the waiter that had to deal with our table. Lots O Food The movie was great. I highly recommend it. Its full some great liners. If you stayed at the end of the credits to hear Maggies first word: Sequel Maybe we will be another movie sometime before the next decade.

Understanding that you and respect our Constitution. What is your opinion of being in Contempt of Congress when Executive privlege used? Do you think any reforms in this area are necessary? http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/7/30/113052/726

In his testimony yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed that when James Comey raised objections to the administration's spying program, he was referring to other intelligence activities, not the warrantless wiretapping program that Bush has confirmed. Gonzales's big problem is that he told the Senate on February 6, 2006 that no one within the Justice Department dissented from President Bush's warrantless surveillance program, a contention made dubious by James Comey's testimony in May that, as acting attorney general in March 2004, Comey refused to reauthorize a program he considered illegal. Yesterday, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), who was ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, said he was never told of other intelligence activities. As far as I'm concerned, there's only one intelligence program, Rockefeller said. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales repeatedly made references to the "Gang of Eight" when being questioned about the warrantless surveillance/ domestic spying while testifying at the Justice Department Oversight hearing held July 24, 2007. One "Gang of Eight" member, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who was present at this classified briefing took issue with Gonzales even speaking about the meeting, "'The attorney general is selectively declassifying material from a classified briefing, which I find improper.'" In today's Times, another member of the Gang of Eight, speaking anonymously, backs Gonzales: "Speaking on condition of anonymity, he confirmed the attorney general’s testimony that the group reached a “consensus” that the disputed intelligence activity should continue and that passing emergency legislation would risk revealing secrets." In March 2004, a dispute arose over the legality of a secret intelligence wiretapping program. Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft was in the hospital after a gallbladder operation, and James Comey was acting attorney general. White House counsel Alberto Gonzales (shown) now the attorney general, went with Andrew Card, White House chief of staff at the time, to Ashcroft's bedside to get him to reauthorize the program. Apparent discrepancies and evasions in Attorney General Gonzalez' testimony is leading several senators to call for charges of perjury. The Gang of Eight is a common colloquial term for a set of eight leaders of the U.S. Congress. Specifically, the Gang of Eight includes the leaders of each of the two parties from each of the two houses of Congress and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees of each of the two houses of Congress. The President of the United States is required by 50 U.S.C. § 413(a)(1) to "ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States." However, the President may elect to report instead to the Gang of Eight when he feels "it is essential to limit access" to information about a covert action. The term "Gang of Eight" gained wide currency in the coverage of the Bush administration's warrantless domestic spying program, in the context that no members of Congress other than the Gang of Eight were informed of the program, and they were forbidden to disseminate knowledge of the program to other members of Congress. The Bush administration has asserted that the briefings delivered to the Gang of Eight sufficed to provide Congressional oversight of the program and preserve the checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service released a legal analysis on January 18, 2006, concluding that the Bush administration's refusal to brief any members of Congress on the warrantless domestic spying program other than the Gang of Eight is "inconsistent with the law." The New York Times The Washington Post Current Members of the Gang of Eight Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner, Republican House Leader Harry Reid, Democratic Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Leader Silvestre Reyes, Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Peter Hoekstra, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence John D. Rockefeller, IV, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Kit Bond Ranking Member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Understanding that you and respect our Constitution. What is your opinion of being in Contempt of Congress when Executive privlege used? Do you think any reforms in this area are necessary? I wrote this same question on a Blog that I set up on Senator Clinton's web site http://connect.hillaryclinton.com/forum.js...rumID=400006445